DoJ Distributes $18.5m to Western Union Fraud Victims

Around 3000 international victims of historic fraud facilitated by Western Union will receive millions of dollars in the latest round of reimbursements announced yesterday.

The Justice Department (DoJ) said that the second distribution of the second phase of the Western Union Remission would compensate the victims from a further $18.5m forfeited to the government by the Colorado-headquartered money transfer business.

The remission fund has to date distributed over $420m to more than 175,000 victims – including $40m to over 25,000 victims in the first distribution of the second phase back in 2023. The idea is to fully compensate all victims for their losses.

The second phase was opened in March 2022 to provide victims who had not filed petitions in the first an opportunity to get their money back.

Read more on Western Union fraud: First 100,000 Victims of Western Union Fraud Scheme Receive $153m

Such is the scale of the fraud that the DoJ said it anticipates authorizing more distributions for victims in the coming months.

The scheme stems from a 2017 deferred prosecution agreement in which Western Union acknowledged responsibility for various criminal acts including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and “aiding and abetting wire fraud.”

It agreed to forfeit $586m in total to fully reimburse victims for multiple scams where fraudsters convinced them to send money via Western Union.

These included:

• The grandparent scam, where fraudsters posed as the victim’s relative in need of immediate money to avoid personal harm
• Lottery or sweepstakes scams, where fraudsters told victims that they had won a large cash prize but had to pay fees to claim it
• Romance scams, where fraudsters posed online as a love interest and requested funds for a visit or another excuse

The DoJ said that “certain owners, operators or employees” at the financial services firm were complicit in this fraud and that Western Union “aided and abetted” the schemes by failing to suspend or sack these agents.

“Western Union allowed fraudsters to carry out schemes against the most vulnerable people in our society, and we are proud to uphold accountability for those involved in these schemes and ensure proper compensation for the harm that victims suffered,” said US attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

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